A White House document released in the trial of Oliver L. North indicates that President Bush, while vice president, was informed that U.S. military aid was being given to Honduras as a "quid pro quo" because of that country's help for Nicaragua's Contra rebels. The document, a memorandum distributed at a 1985 Oval Office meeting attended by Bush, strengthens earlier indications that he was aware the Reagan Administration was promising aid to Honduras in exchange for help for the Contras at a time when Congress had prohibited U.S. aid "directly or indirectly" to the rebels.

The Justice Department's criminal division is investigating allegations that Senate Republicans and the tobacco industry violated federal law by illegally colluding to torpedo anti-smoking legislation in June. The department quietly informed Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) on Aug. 17 that it would examine whether the industry and Senate Republicans engaged in an illegal quid pro quo: political advertising in exchange for votes.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court's decision to lift the cap on the amount donors can contribute in a congressional election cycle promises to shift power to the political party's established leaders, who had lost ground to outside groups. With the demise of the $123,200 limit for the two-year election cycle, party stalwarts such as House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will be able to raise multimillion-dollar checks from wealthy contributors for new campaign committees.

Given its pitch-black subject matter, you'd expect "Quid Pro Quo" to take a quick nose dive into something dank and lurid, never to emerge. Instead, writer-director Carlos Brooks and stars Nick Stahl and Vera Farmiga do something unexpectedly moving with this modern noir detective story, in which a wheelchair-bound NPR reporter descends into the world of "wannabe" amputees and paraplegics.

Tongue specializes in visions of the liberated, fearless, articulate body, aiming for a physicality so free it verges on the anarchic and anti-choreographic. But as much as director Stephanie Gilliland loves to reap the whirlwind with her nine-dancer, locally based troupe, she manages to reinvent the process each season.

Writer-director Carlos Brooks began conceptualizing his feature film debut, "Quid Pro Quo," which opens Friday, some eight years ago. "I wanted to write a different story, something unusual," he explains. "I had an idea for somebody who was impaired in some way. He would get some sort of talisman that would help him overcome the impairment, and in return, I thought, he would have to help the person who impaired him in the first place." His initial idea, the filmmaker admits, didn't tread water.

A Colorado savings and loan that counted one of President Bush's sons as a director made inflated loans to developers who had to reinvest part of the money in the thrift, federal regulators said today. The House Banking Committee opened two days of hearings on the $1-billion collapse of the Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan Assn. of Denver. Bush's son, Neil, is to testify on Wednesday.

Re "The GOP's New, Familiar Face," Feb. 3 So Ohio's John Boehner has been elected by the Republicans in the House of Representatives as their majority leader in order to gain distance from corruption charges? Boehner is hardly a "fresh face" from the lobbyist scandals that have plagued the GOP this last year. In 1995, Boehner distributed checks from a tobacco industry group to congressional allies, moments before a vote on a key tobacco measure. Bright light must continue to shine on such disgusting betrayals of the public trust.